Book Description
This volume features four celebrated masterpieces: Lysistrata, The Frogs, The Assembly-Women, and Plutus (Wealth), all in new translations by the distinguished poet and translator Paul Roche. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Inexpensive and very okay
Roche's Signet Classic "Four Plays by Aristophanes" provides good contemporary translations of Lysistrata, The Frogs, A Parliament of Women, and Plutus.On the negative side, the renderings are not terrifically inspired.The paper is too pulpy for a "classic," but that's a drawback of most (though not all) inexpensive classics nowadays. My printing of Roche, however, is not thick or blotchy, though I've noticed the Signet Classics sometimes tend in that direction.

Gone are the days, evidently, when the pages of a Signet Classic always looked crisp and stayed bright for decades.I've got some from the '60s that still look good.

Roche's introduction and notes to these four plays are brief but solid.

Great Ancient Greek Political Parodies
I should first point out that I read a different edition of this book, and the one that I had had only two plays - The Birds and The Frogs.I will review only these two. Aristophanes has a "no holds barred" type of approach to controversial political decisions and actions.The Birds is a comedy that ridicules the disastrous Greek expedition to Sicily in 413 B.C. Arisotophanes is a wonderful writer and he uses similes and parables throughout his writing.Besides being comedic, The Birds pays tribute to man's eternal desire to achieve the freedom and beauty associated with birds.
The Frogs is a parody on the stupidy and culpability of persons afflicted with their own preoccupation with themselves.We see these types of "puffed up" personalities all around even in this day and age.So like the frogs we hear in our ponds and marshes chirping the same old songs.This is acually as timely as it was when it was written sometime around 400 B.C.Hard to believe.

Get on the right page
The reviews attached here seem to refer to another collection by another translator--the Arrowsmith edition, apparently.Instead of"Clouds" we have two lesser plays--"Parliament of Women" and "Wealth."The translation's lively, the notes very helpful, the glossary mentioned in other reviews is absent here.All in all, a very useful introduction to Aristophanes, and endless fun.

ancient Greek comedy at its best
Aristophanes was to theatre what Socrates was to religion and politics--the funny, irreverent "bad boy." My favorite of these 4 plays has to be "The Clouds", which is in fact a parody mocking and making fun of Socrates (spelled or mis-spelled Sokrates). Very funny dialogue.

David Rehak
author of "A Young Girl's Crimes"

Great Student Edition
This book is physically constructed like a student edition -- i.e., cheaply.The paper is cheap and thick, the ink thick and sometimes blotchy, with that great newspaper smell.If you're looking for a lovely edition of Aristophanes to sit on the mantle with your nice books, this is not.

The text is also organized like a student edition.The translations are great, lively, readable and fun.Each of the four plays is followed by a commentary, with textual and contextual explanation (pointing out Greek jokes that couldn't be translated, explaining Athenian politics, etc.). The back of the book is a glossary of names, places and institutions.The aids are clear and very helpful, especially for first time readers. ... Read more

Book Description
A brand-new translation of the world's greatest satirist. With a signature style that is at once bawdy and delicate, as well as a fearless penchant for lampooning the rich and powerful, Aristophanes remains arguably the finest satirist of all time. Collected here are all 11 of his surviving plays-newly translated by the distinguished poet and translator Paul Roche. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Good Translation
With the old comedy of Greece (i.e. Aristophanes), a more common language was used, therefore, a common dialect should be used for the translation. Roche does that here, much like any of the other translations.This should not direct one away from the text.It is very readable, and brings out the great humor of these works.It is also the one of the only ways to get all of Aristophanes' extant plays in one collection, and for a good price.Very worthy of your bookshelf.

Local Dialect Detracts from the Plays
Paul Roche, attempting to give his plays a more "familiar" feel to an English-speaking audience goes too far.

He has the irritating habit of occasionally flavoring the words of a minor character in such a way that they sound more like an English country bumpkin than the character they are supposed to represent.

As an example, near the beginning of The Acharnians, Roche does the following; pay close attention to the Crier:

AMPHITHEUS: Have the speeches begun?
CRIER: 'oo wishes to speak?
AMPHITHEUS: I do.
CRIER: 'oo are you?
AMPHITHEUS: Amphitheus
CRIER: That don't sound like a 'uman being.


This is but a single example.If you prefer a feeling of authenticity in your ancient Greek drama, stay away from Paul Roche.

Ribald and Raucous
Aristophanes was a ribald playwright whose raucous plays were brilliantly brought to life by Fred Beake, David Slavitt, Palmer Bovie, and Jack Flavin. The first two of the four plays in Aristophanes, 1, The Acharnians and Peace were written during the Peloponnesian War between Athens, Sparta, and their allies. It was a terrible war consuming all of Greece, and Aristophanes was one of the first peace advocates. In The Acharnians, Dikaiopolis (which means "Good Citizen"), tries to convince the Assembly to discuss peace terms, only to be shut out of the discussion. So he hires Amphitheus, who claims to be a son of a god ordered to bring peace, to go to Sparta and make a treaty between Sparta and his family. In Peace, Trygaeus flies to heaven on a beetle to talk Zeus into advocating peace but Zeus went on vacation because he couldn't stand the fighting anymore and left War in charge. War buried Peace and Trygaeus had to rescue her to bring Peace to Athens.

The third play in the series, Celebrating Ladies, was a raucous attempt by Euripides, the famous Tragedian, to send his brother-in-law to the women's assembly to find out what the women are saying about him. So he dresses up as a woman and learns the women want to kill Euripides for writing so many disparaging things about them. Mnesilochus, the brother-in-law, speaks up for Euripides and the women try to kill him too. He's finally rescued when Euripides promises to change his behavior.

Finally, Wealth, represented the last of the extant plays of Aristophanes. Chremylus and his slave discover Wealth, a god blinded by Zeus because Zeus was afraid he might visit honest men. Chremylus claims he can restore his sight if he'll only visit with honest men. Wealth agrees, and with his sight restored, sprreads wealth to honest men and the lying informers are made to suffer in poverty.

The four plays in Aristophanes, 1 span the gamut from Old Comedy to New Comedy. The former was characterized by vulgar and slapstick humor with a Chorus used to interact with the audience. As comedy evolved, the Chorus played less a role and there was a softening of the ribald humor so characteristic of Old Comedy.

To make the plays more readable and understandable without losing any of the humor of the plays, the translators often made references to Twentieth Century phrases instead of the original Greek phrases. This might be annoying to the scholar but makes these plays eminently enjoyable to the general reader ... Read more

Book Description
Aristophanes' comic plays, Lysistrata, Women at the Thesmophoria and Assemblywomen contain the earliest portrayals of actual women in the European literary tradition, and are the only such portrayals that survive from classical Athens. These plays provide a unique glimpse of women not only in their familiar domestic roles but also in relation to household and city religion and government, war and peace, theater and festival, and, of course, to men. In all three plays we find a fantastic but provocatively plausible inversion of the actual world, where women and men have changed places. Aristophanes' comic gynecocracies put male fantasies of feminism--often intersecting with those of myth, tragedy and Platonic idealism--into sharp and memorable focus, and so help us to redefine our understanding of the troubling realities to which these comic fantasies were a response.

In Staging Women the eminent Aristophanic scholar Jeffrey Henderson presents, for the first time in a single volume, all three plays in new translations. Unlike earlier versions, which typically censor, translate around, or otherwise misrepresent these texts, Henderson preserves intact all of Aristophanes' blunt and often obscene language, rough satire, social and political protest and provocative fantasy. In addition, each play is supplied with an introduction and explanatory notes. The volume includes introductory material about Aristophanes, his comic theater and the women in Aristophanic comedy. An appendix contains translations of fragments bearing on the portrayal of women in Aristophanes'lost plays. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Can You Say That?
Let me start by saying that this book has the best translations of Aristophanes that I've ever read.Henderson's translations contain really obscene language.That is not to say that I only liked it for the swears. The flow of the play with this obscenity is like the flow of a moderncomedy.Why should something as great as a classical play be subject tocensorship?Thanks to Henderson and his translation, we now know exactlywhat the Athenians saw when they watched Aristophanes. ... Read more

Book Description
Writing at the time of political and social crisis in Athens Aristophanes was an eloquent yet bawdy challenger to the demagogue and the sophist. The Achanians is a plea for peace set against the background of the long war with Sparta. In Lysistrata a band of women tap into the awesome power of sex in order to end a war. The darker comedy of The Clouds satirizes Athenian philosophers, Socrates in particular, and reflects the uncertainties of a generation in which all traditional religious and ethical beliefs were being challenged. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

awesome
this is the best book of plays that i have ever bought. Lysistrata is one of the best plays i've ever read.

Aristophanes with Tact
I have used this book repeatedly for my classes on women in antiquity, mostly out of habit. Professor Sommerstein's translation is extremely readable, but he is such a gentleman that the really flagrant double entendres of the Greek in "Lysistrata" and the "Acharnians" often pass unnoticed, or must be teased out of the text; and because they have often been rendered into a Scottish dialect, they must be explained. And when humor has to be explained--especially Aristophanic humor--it loses something of its ribaldry in the process of explanation. Nevertheless, the book makes for reading that is painless, pleasant, and usually terribly polite.

the father of western comedy...
Brilliantly written and translated (quite a feat considering the many word-plays in ancient Greek...), this book (or any of Arsitophanes' plays for that matter) is a 'must read' for the humourist and the classisist combined. When the King of Syracuse asked Plato what he should read to understand how the average Athenian thought, he was instructed to read Aristophanes. You will be fascinated to see just how 'modern' the humour is, or, as the introduction explains, how 'ancient' our modern comedy is.

'The Clouds', inlcuded in this volume, is the imfamous play that Plato criticised Aristophanes over after the death of Socrates: he claimed that the parody of his teacher helped those who secured Socrates' death. I'd like to think Socrates did not concur. It has been reported that he bowed in good humour after witnessing the performance. Also, 'Lysistrata' is often used as a proto-feminist story - although it is much more interesting than that. Ancient Greeks have, as one of their chief virtues and downfalls a drive to be self examining and critical. It gives todays social relativists plenty of ammunition. Those that use it as an anti-war/peace-at-any-cost story, when it is actually against civil war, have not studied Aristophanes enough, or are prepared to ignore what doesn't work for their cause...

Translation with wit but without true character of original
Alan Sommerstein went to some length to translate the puns and plays onwords (as further explained in the endnotes), which results in a veryactive play, and, for the careful reader, wit in nearly every line.Healso uses the endnotes to explain further the Greek personalities mentionedin the plays, which adds to the understanding; my recommendation would beto read the play straight, then read the associated endnotes, then rereadthe play in question.

This translation captures the humor of theoriginal, which ranges from low-brow slapstick to witty one-liners topolitical asides--a union of vaudeville, Oscar Wilde, and Mark Russell. However, what Sommerstein utterly misses is the form of ancient Greekcomedy.The lyric choruses are rendered in choppy iambic lines, with manyof them set to tunes from Gilbert & Sullivan.Aristophanes meant touse vulgarity in the acting, not in the lines of the Chorus.

Two starsfor verbal wit, two stars for completeness of endnotes, and one star for mylove of "Lysistrata", minus one star for excessive use of campytunes.

(For those of you who do like his translations, or those justlooking for the other eight plays, they are contained in two more volumes. Sommerstein collaborated with David Barrett in the volumeKnights/Peace/Birds/Women's Assembly/Wealth, while Barrett translatedWasps/Women's Assembly/Frogs.Barrett takes less care with the translationof humor, but does not destroy the credibility of the choral lines.) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Hilarious collection of plays
Comedy is notoriously difficult to translate--not only do some cultures have entirely different senses of humor, the word-play and deft cultural allusions that make good comedy are often untranslatable. Against these odds, translator David Barrett has successfully brought Aristophanes into modern English with all his wit, sarcasm, and sly digs at well-known Greeks.

The plays collected here--Frogs, Wasps, and Women at the Thesmophoria--are rendered so well that I was laughing all the way through. The translations are remarkably true to the originals and well foot-noted where the translator has diverged from the text, usually to make a joke an English-speaking reader would understand.

Frogs and Other Plays is a fast, easy, and very funny read, well worth the time for anyone interested in ancient Greece, drama, or good old-fashioned comedy.

Recommended.

Very easy read
More people should read the Greeks.It's not hard at all.How many of your friends can say they've read Aristophanes? ... Read more

Book Description
English translation.A delightful translation of a play long noted for its critique of philosophy, society and education. Includes essays on Old Comedy and the Theater of Dionysus, suggestions for further reading, notes on production, and map. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Aristophanes attacks Socrates the sophist as a Sophist
The legend is that when Aristophanes' comedy "The Clouds" was first performed in Athens in 423 B.C., his target, Socrates, stood throughout the performance so that everyone in the audience was aware that he was there and hearing what was said of him. The portrait of Socrates clearly satirical and most critics consider it to be inaccurate. But Aristophanes is making fun of Athens' renowned "Think-tank" the "Phrontisterion," the school where the rich young men of Athens were taught the fine art of rhetoric. Instead of anything lofty the comic poet suggests the primary purpose of such an education is to be clever and out-reason greedy creditors.This is an especially good translation of the play, which includes insightful notes and essays on both Old Comedy and the Theater of Dionysus that helps readers understand the conventions of staged comedy at the time of Aristophanes.

In this comedy Socrates is consulted by an old rogue, Strepsiades (sometimes translated as "Twisterson"), who is upset with the mountain of debts his playboy son Phidippides, who loves fast horses and fast living. Phidippides agrees to go to Socrates' school of logic where he can learn to make a wrong argument sound right. After graduation is able to use the system of "unjust logic" to outwit his father and kick him out of the family home. The Chorus of Clouds comments on the proceedings and in the end the Phrontisterion is burned to the ground by Strepsiades.

The flaw of the play is Aristophanes is trying to satirize the Sophists, who were popularizing a new philosophy that denied the possibility of ever reaching objective truth, he picked the wrong target. The Sophists were mostly teachers who were not native to Athens, such as Isocartes and Gorgias. "Sophist" basically meant teacher, so while Socrates was a "sophist" he was not a "Sophist." Twenty-four years later, when Socrates was condemned to death for "corrupting the youth of Athens," the only accuser he said he could name was a certain "comic poet." For contemporary audiences who are untutored in the traditions of classical Greek philosophy it is easy to see Socrates as the prototype for the absent-minded professor, but historically that is, of course, far from the truth. Ironically, even today, Socrates is still one of the few "sophists" that a contemporary audience would recognize by name if not by reputation.

The version of "The Clouds" that has passed down to us is not the original version, which was defeated by Cratinus' "Wine Flask" at a comedy competition during the Great Dionysia celebrations. We know this is a revised version because the Chorus complains about Aristophanes finishing third in that competition. However, critics assume it is essentially the same play, albeit a more polished version. Once you forgive Aristophanes for his unfair characterization of Socrates, "The Clouds" is a great comedy employing all of his standard tricks of the trade from fantasy and ribaldry to funny songs and obscene words. ... Read more

Book Description

The eleven plays by Aristophanes that have come down to us intact brilliantly illuminate the eventful period spanned by his forty-year career, beginning with the first production in 427 BCE. But the Athenians knew much more of his work: over forty plays by Aristophanes were read in antiquity, of which nearly a thousand fragments survive. These provide a fuller picture of the poet's ever astonishing comic vitality and a wealth of information and insights about his world. Jeffrey Henderson's new, widely acclaimed Loeb edition of Aristophanes is completed by this volume containing what survives from, and about, his lost plays, hitherto inaccessible to the nonspecialist, and incorporating the enormous scholarly advances that have been achieved in recent years.

Each fragmentary play is prefaced by a summary of what can be inferred about its plot, characters, themes, theatricality, and topical significance. Also included in this edition are the ancient reports about Aristophanes' life, works, and influence on the later comic tradition.

Customer Reviews (2)

Three early Greek comedies by Aristophanes
"Aristophanes I" brings together three of the Greek comedians earliest extant comedies. The legend is that when Aristophanes' comedy "The Clouds" was first performed in Athens in 423 B.C., his target, Socrates, stood throughout the performance so that everyone in the audience was aware that he was there and hearing what was said of him. The portrait of Socrates clearly satirical and most critics consider it to be inaccurate. But Aristophanes is making fun of Athens' renowned "Think-tank" the "Phrontisterion," the school where the rich young men of Athens were taught the fine art of rhetoric. Instead of anything lofty the comic poet suggests the primary purpose of such an education is to be clever and out-reason greedy creditors. This is an especially good translation of the play, which includes insightful notes and essays on both Old Comedy and the Theater of Dionysus that helps readers understand the conventions of staged comedy at the time of Aristophanes.

In this comedy Socrates is consulted by an old rogue, Strepsiades (sometimes translated as "Twisterson"), who is upset with the mountain of debts his playboy son Phidippides, who loves fast horses and fast living. Phidippides agrees to go to Socrates' school of logic where he can learn to make a wrong argument sound right. After graduation is able to use the system of "unjust logic" to outwit his father and kick him out of the family home. The Chorus of Clouds comments on the proceedings and in the end the Phrontisterion is burned to the ground by Strepsiades. The flaw of the play is Aristophanes is trying to satirize the Sophists, who were popularizing a new philosophy that denied the possibility of ever reaching objective truth, he picked the wrong target. The Sophists were mostly teachers who were not native to Athens, such as Isocartes and Gorgias. "Sophist" basically meant teacher, so while Socrates was a "sophist" he was not a "Sophist." Twenty-four years later, when Socrates was condemned to death for "corrupting the youth of Athens," the only accuser he said he could name was a certain "comic poet" who renamed nameless.

The version of "The Clouds" that has passed down to us is not the original version, which was defeated by Cratinus' "Wine Flask" at a comedy competition during the Great Dionysia celebrations. We know this is a revised version because the Chorus complains about Aristophanes finishing third in that competition. However, critics assume it is essentially the same play, albeit a more polished version. Once you forgive Aristophanes for his unfair characterization of Socrates, "The Clouds" is a great comedy employing all of his standard tricks of the trade from fantasy and ribaldry to funny songs and obscene words.

"Wasps" ("Sphekes") appeals to contemporary audiences because it satirizes the litigiousness of the Athenians. Actually, the play, produced in 422 B.C., is more about the permanent tensions between conservative and liberal politics. Aristophanes is attacking the practice of the politician Cleon's exploitation of the large subsidized juries used in by the Athenian legal system. Bdelcylen ("Cleon-hater"), representing the position of the playwright, maintains that pay for public service is the device of demagogues to purchase loyalty. His father Philocleon("Cleon-lover"), a mean and waspish old man who has a passion for serving on juries, represents the Athenians.

Bdelcylen arranges for a court to be held at home to hear Philocleon's stupid little case of accusing the dog of the house of stealing cheese. The old man is cured of his passion for juries, becoming a drunkard instead. The best scenes in "Wasps" are Philocleon's attempts to escape when Bdelcyclen locks him up and the scene where the poor dog is tried. Certainly this play is representative of Aristophanes as a reformer, who wanted to persuade his audiences to change their foolish ways by ridiculing them on stage.

The problem with "The Birds" ("Ornithes") is that for once Aristophanes does not seem to be attacking some specific abuse in Athens. Still, we suspect that even this little fantasy is not simply escapist entertainment. Certainly there are those who see it as a political satire about the imperialistic dreams that resulted in the disastrous invasion of Sicily (which happened the year before his play was produced in 414 B.C.). Then again, this could just be Aristophanes bemoaning the decline of Athens.

Pisthetaerus ("Trusting") and Euelpides ("Hopeful") have grown tired of life in Athens and decide to build a utopia in the sky with the help of the birds, which they will name Necphelococcygia (which translates roughly as "Cloud Cuckoo Land"). Pisthetaerus and his feathered friends have to fight off those unworthy humans, malefactors and public nuisances all, who try and join their utopia. Then there are the gods, who come to make some sort of agreement with the new city because they have created a bottleneck for sacrifices coming from earth. Because it is a more general satire, "The Birds" tends to work better with younger audiences than most comedies by Aristophanes. Besides, the chorus of birds lends itself to fantastic costumes, which is always a plus with young theater goers.

In studying any of the Greek plays that remain it is important to I have always maintained that in studying Greek plays you want to know the dramatic conventions of these plays like the distinction between episodes and stasimons (scenes and songs), the "agon" (a formal debate on the crucial issue of the play), and the "parabasis" (in which the Chorus partially abandons its dramatic role and addresses the audience directly). Understanding these really enhances your enjoyment of the play.

Three classic plays translated for performers and students
Better known for translating the great Greek tragedies, Peter Meineck has now turned his pen on the comedies, with generally positive results.Like other translations published by Hackett, this one is aimed squarely at today's college students.It has plenty of historical background for those who want it, or can be read just for the plays.

Translating comedy is trickier than tragedy, because jokes are so fickle.What one society finds hilarious, another might find distasteful.Meineck does his best to render the old Greek jokes and still be funny.He doesn't always succeed.His skills at punning are not as great as Aristophanes', nor do the jokes about minor Athenian figures like Theorus and Cardopion add much to a performance text.

And these are performance texts.No matter how faithful to the original, no matter how many footnotes and endnotes the translator provides, a student should still be wary of changes made for modern performance.Today's theater operates under an entirely different set of conventions.

The plays themselves are three genuine classics, WASPS being less known than CLOUDS and BIRDS, but in this book, perhaps the best.Procleon's obsession with jury service and the headaches it causes his son translates very well, and Meineck is surprisingly adept at rendering the political understory that subliminally critizes the Athenian leader Cleon.

BIRDS is the story of two friends who come up with one of the great comic plans: a utopia named Cloudcuckooland where they, with the help of the birds, rule both the gods and men.And it works!

CLOUDS is read most often because it features a comic version of Socrates and his 'Pondertorium.'While Meineck and Introduction writer Ian C. Storey conclude the portrayal of Socrates is entirely innaccurate, it sure is funny.CLOUDS is really more of a father-son story, a father convincing his profligate son to get an education in order to argue the father's way out of the accumulating debts.What the father doesn't bank on is his son using new-learned rhetorical skills to argue that a son has the right to beat his father.

Meineck is British, so the slang in the plays is full of 'poofters' and 'arses.'I will say this much, only recently have translations of the Greek comic playwrights begun to reflect how genuinely bawdy they were.Some of Meineck's best footnotes let you in on the double-entendres.

It's all a lot of silly mischief, and in the final reckoning Aristophanes comes through loud and clear, despite such devices as rhymed doggerel passages (no rhymes in classical Greek) and confusing name translations like Makemedo.The title of this book is ARISTOPHANES I, and let us hope that professor Meineck is at work on an ARISTOPHANES II that will include some of Aristophanes lesser-known works as well as perennial favorite LYSISTRATA. ... Read more

Book Description
A poet who hated an age of decadence, armed conflict, and departure from tradition, Aristophanes' comic genius influenced the political and social order of his own fifth-century Athens. But as Moses Hadas writes in his introduction to this volume, 'His true claim upon our attention is as the most brilliant and artistic and thoughtful wit our world has known.' Includes The Acharnians, The Birds, The Clouds, Ecclesiazusae, The Frogs, The Knights, Lysistrata, Peace, Plutus, Thesmophoriazusae, and The Wasps. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Learn from my mistake
You may look at the Bantam Classics edition of Aristophanes and think "Wow, what a deal!All eleven extant plays by Aristophanes for under $6!"I thought the same thing; but trust me, this edition is not worth your time.These translations are stilted, archaic and endlessly frustrating - obscuring not only the timeless humor of the plays, but occasionally the basic elements of the plot as well.I recommend instead paying the extra money for the livelier, bawdier, more readable Penguin editions.Don't make the same mistake I did.

a dreadful translation of classic work
do NOT purchase this translation. it makes one of the funniest writers of all time boring. this translation is as bad as the previous reviewers have indicated. the best, and most hilarious, translation that i've seen is a 1938 version that , i think, eugene o'neillworked on as an editor or something.however, aristophanes should definitely be checked out by afficionados of ancient greek literature as well as anyone interested in comic writing that'll make you laugh out loud. he's one of the titans of world literature.

Disappointed by a Bad Translation
The plays of Aristophanes comic masterpieces, but not in these old-fashioned, stilted translations.I have read other translations of some of these plays.When properly translated, they are witty in much of their wordplay, frequently ribald and often funny.The language of the present translations, on the other hand, is stiff, obscure and scarcely readable.The publisher has done us a great service by compiling all of the Aristophanes plays into a single volume, but should reissue the collection in a better, more modern translation, one which does justice to the original.

Too Much Liberty in Paraphrasing
I agree with the previous review on "Baudlerizing". Not only is the translation edited for sexual content but translating greek currencies (likely drachmae) into dollars, translating references to women's robes into "silk" -- probably unknown in ancient Greece, etc., makes this book less useful for people like myself who cannot read the ancient Greek, but are researching the historical period.The book retains much of Aristophanes humor and is, fairly much, kid-safe for those parents who are concerned about a child precocious enough to read Aristophanes being corrupted by an accurate translation.

Bowdlerized Aristophanes!
I can accept some stilted language; after all, some of these translations are about a century old. I can accept the lack of notes. But I can not accept translations of Aristophanes that cut some of his funniest scenes!

For instance, in the translation of Thesmophoriazusae, the unmasking of Mnesilochus (line 600 and after) is gutted. Lines 610-617 are gone (Mnesilochus' urination excuse), but more importantly, the whole climax of the scene -- the hilarious physical comedy where he tries to maintain his female disguise (lines 643-649) -- is nowhere to be seen.

It's hard to imagine that an editor would allow 19th century prudery to ruin a 20th century edition of Aristophanes, but there you are.

Despite the cheap price, this book is no bargain. Spring for the more expensive (if a bit less literal) Penguin versions. ... Read more

Book Description
Aristophanes' great anti-war drama, with comedic overtones, glorifies the power of fertility in the face of destruction. Plays for Performance Series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Excellent
This was exactly what I was hoping for, a simple copy of Lysistrata's text.No extra frills, no bells and whistles.Just perfect.

Highly readable,but(t).....?
Neither the creaky and surprisingly prudish anonymous translation published by Dover Thrift Editions nor the profanity-laden, anachronistic but highly readable translation by Sarah Ruden is the perfect classroom edition of Lysistrata.Between the two, I guess I'll start teaching Ruden's version, especially since the footnotes and other apparatus are genuinely scholarly and indicate where liberties are taken.

But is the language Ruden chooses really the modern equivalent of how Aristophanes would have sounded to 5th-Century BCE ears?Visually, the play is inescapably bawdy, but is Aristophanes' dialog really so much the equivalent of today's stand-up comedians who "work blue" and use strings of low-minded profanity instead of clever innuendo to be amusing?

Personally, I prefer the Dudley Fitts translation, which seems to strike just the right balance between high-tone literal and "urban" street-talk.Unfortunately, the Fitts translation seems to be unavailable in an inexpensive, single-title edition.Any chance Dover might get the rights to it and retire their stilted anonymous translation?

[...].

Overly clever translation that should be avoided.
This is obviously a translation meant to be read and not performed, and thus has lost the purpose of Lysistrata, and best to be avoided at all costs. Professor Parker's tortured retelling of this very funny play sucks the humor out in favor of clever witticisms and offensive stereotypes. He has forgotten that this was a play written during the Peloponnesian Wars, and was a direct response to that conflict. If he had not, then why the references to Hamlet and other plays? Are we supposed to follow the story or applaud Parker's precocious re-telling? If you read this play as part of a class and use the anthology "The Living Theatre", do yourself a favor and get another translation.

Pick your translation carefully
Having read several different translations of Lysistrata, I can report that the one you select may make all the difference in your opinion of this early comedy.Roche's translation is very vulgar but has good footnotes: get ready for cockney Spartans, however.Jack Lindsay's translation, done in 1925 (included in the Bantam edition of Aristophanes) seems to be overly literary in comparison to the original but lacks notes. It reads well, though sounds a little old-fashioned. The bawdry is present but made less direct; in this one the Spartan dialect is Scottish.

I found Parker's translation to be the least satisfactory. The "hillbilly" dialect he gives the Spartans is painfully overdone,not to mention inaccurate, and the speeches are awkward and pedestrian. An excellent edition overall is Alan H. Sommerstein's in the Penguin Classic "Aristophanes: Lysistrata and Other Plays."The introduction and notes are extremely informative, and the translation itself strikes the right note to represent Aristophanes' style in English.(Once again, though, the Spartans are Scots.)

But perhaps the best choice is Sarah Ruden's 2003 edition. Her dialogue is unusually funny without straying too far from the original. Added value comes from her four very readable essays on Greek democracy, warfare, women, and comedy. It's also printed on quality paper and comes with a great cover!

Hilarious and Still Relevant
Last semester, I took a college course on comedic drama. Lysistrata was one of the first plays the class read, and it, the oldest play we read, provided the room of twenty-somethings with our biggest belly-laugh of the semester. That, it seems, attests to the endurance of this theatrical masterpiece.

The plot is outstanding. The country is involved in a needless war that is tearing everyone apart. In response, Lysistrata leads the women in a conspiracy to stop the war. They will lock themselves in the temple and withhold sex from their men until the war stops. The outcome is increasingly hilarious (and bawdy), and profound.

And of course, the play wouldn't still be around if it were simply funny. There are layers of meaning here and, in true comedic fashion, an appeal to a better way of life. The play builds to an appeal to a more spirit-filled, more peaceful, and loving, way of living. It's no wonder that this play is still relevant 2500 years after it was written.
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Book Description
English translations.This inexpensive compilation by noted scholar and translator Jeffrey Henderson collects three of Aristophanes' most popular plays: Acharnians, Clouds, and Lysistrata.Complete with introductions and notes, this single volume collection is sure to be a valuable addition to any classroom or collections.

Each of these plays is available from Focus in a single play edition, edited by Jeffrey Henderson . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Gimme another translation, man
This review is for the Focus Classical Library version of three Aristophanes plays: Acharnians, Lysistrata and Clouds. The good news is that they are not bowdlerized. The bad news is that the translator, Jeffrey Henderson, got way too funky and hip (ie, dated) with his translation. Characters say "man" and use words like "gimme", "wanna" and "a__hole". Some of this kind of thing is appropriate, especially in "Clouds", but the translator is trying so hard to be wacky that it becomes a major distraction. A large sum of money is refered to as "a million bucks" and so on. A good example of one way in which a translation can go awry.

Two comedies by Aristophanes in Greek and English
The Loeb Classical Library features the original Greek texts that remain for both of these comedies by Aristophanes and is obviously of great benefit to those who actually read Greek and are interested in playing with the translation in the hopes of arriving at a better understanding of these plays, their author and the time in which they were performed.The "Acharnians" is one of the earliest extant plays of Aristophanes, the winner of first prize at the festival when it was produced in 425 B.C. Dicaeopolis, a farmer tired of a war he considers to be stupid, decides to make an individual peace with the Spartans. However, before he can celebrate his private treaty, which allows him to trade for goods lacked by those in Athens, he is attacked by a chorus of Acharnian charcoal burners who support the war. The centerpiece of the comedy is Dicaeopolis's speech arguing the causes of the war are pretty stupid. This seriocomic speech, which is a parody of "Telephus" by Euripides, wins over half the chorus. Of course the other half immediately attacks them in a violent agon. The general Lamachus is called in to help, but Dicaeopolis destroys him with cutting arguments as well, and the chorus is united at the end to delivery Aristophanes's parabasis. Meanwhile, Discaeopolis has a drinking contest to attend, while Lamachus is sent back to the war. Pacificism and the folly of war are two recurring themes in the comedies of Aristophanes and both are explicit in the "Acharnians." It is also a good example of the standard format of a Greek comedy, at least as represented by the works of Aristophanes, including the giant party at the end.

The Knights," produced in 424 B.C., is clearly an all-out attack on Cleon, the leader of Athens after the death of Pericles. As related by Thucydides, earlier that year Cleon had induced the Spartans to propose peace. Consequently, Aristophanes opens the comedy with two slaves of the crotchety old Demos ("the people of Athens") dressed up to resemble the generals Demosthenes and Nicias. The two slaves complain about how everyone is picking on Paphlagon, a leather seller who is the favorite of Demos and clearly intended to be Cleon. The oracles tell that Paphlagon is going to be replaced by a sausage seller named Agoracritus."The Knights" is a second-tier comedy by Aristophanes because it is devoted entirely to making fun of Cleon. Consequently, Aristophanes makes his point early on and by the time Agoracritus the sausage seller beats Cleon at this own game, the comic dramatist is beating a dead horse all the way into the ground. This comedy always struck me as being like a SNL skit that lasts the entire show. In the end Demos, rejuvenated by being stewed in a plot by Agoracritus, takes control and declares he will abolish all innovations and restore the old traditions.

The earliest comedy of Aristophanes calling for peace
The "Acharnians" is one of the earliest extant plays of Aristophanes, the winner of first prize at the festival when it was produced in 425 B.C.Dicaeopolis, a farmer tired of a war he considers to be stupid, decides to make an individual peace with the Spartans.However, before he can celebrate his private treaty, which allows him to trade for goods lacked by those in Athens, he is attacked by a chorus of Acharnian charcoal burners who support the war.The centerpiece of the comedy is Dicaeopolis's speech arguing the causes of the war are pretty stupid.This seriocomic speech, which is a parody of "Telephus" by Euripides, wins over half the chorus.Of course the other half immediately attacks them in a violent agon.The general Lamachus is called in to help, but Dicaeopolis destroys him with cutting arguments as well, and the chorus is united at the end to delivery Aristophanes's parabasis.Meanwhile, Discaeopolis has a drinking contest to attend, while Lamachus is sent back to the war.Pacificism and the folly of war are two recurring themes in the comedies of Aristophanes and both are explicit in the "Acharnians."It is also a good example of the standard format of a Greek comedy, at least as represented by the works of Aristophanes, including the giant party at the end. ... Read more

Book Description
Aristophanes's plays were comedies, satires, and politically charged. Lysistrata is perhaps his most famous, dealing with the power of sex and war in a society where women have control. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Pretty useless.
"Aristophanes' Lysistrata: The Birds, The Clouds, The Frogs (Cliffs Notes)" - I only used these "Cliffs Notes" for the play "Lysistrata."I didn't find it extremely helpful.Symbolism, themes, and motifs weren't clearly stated.I do not recommend.

Understanding the comic masterpieces of Aristophanes
This Cliffs Notes volume looks at four comedies by Aristophanes, but begins by looking at the three great Greek writers of tragedy, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, in order to put the work of the comic playwright in appropriate context."Lysistrata," the celebrated anti-war play, is covered by providing a List of Characters, followed by Summaries and Commentaries on each scene of the play.However, the other three plays by Aristophanes are covered without breaking the plays into discrete units (although the authors do discuss the specific structure of Greek plays in their analysis of "The Birds").For two of the plays, "The Birds" and "The Frogs," there are specific points of analysis signposted in the commentary section, but for the most part this little yellow book with the black stripes deals with these plays comprehensively.Those who like to find specific sections dealing with particular literary elements will find this volume to be a little less user-friendly.As always, the analysis is first rate, especially if you have read the plays are therefore able to absorb the additional insights. ... Read more

Book Description
Aristophanes is the only surviving representative of Greek Old Comedy, the exuberant, satirical form of festival drama which flourished during the heyday of classical Athenian culture in the fifth century BC.His plays are characterized by extraordinary combinations of fantasy and satire, sophistication and vulgarity, formality and freedom. Birds is an escapist fantasy in which twodissatisfied Athenians, in defiance of men and gods, bring about a city of birds, the eponymous Cloudcuckooland. In Lysistrata the heroine of the play organizes a sex-strike and the wives of Athens occupy the Akropolis in an attempt to restore peace to the city. The main source of comedy in the Assembly-Women is a similar usurpation of male power as the women attempt to reform Athenian society along utopian-communist lines. Finally, Wealth is Aristophanes' last surviving comedy, in which Ploutos, the god of wealth is cured of his blindness and the remarkable social consequences of his new discrimination are exemplified. This is the first complete verse translation of Aristophanes' comedies to appear for more than twenty-five years and makes freshly available one of the most remarkable comic playwrights in the entire Western tradition, complete with an illuminating introduction including play by play analysis and detailed notes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Review on Aristophanes' Plays
Aristophanes is considered the finest comic playwrite of the Classical Era.This is certainly born out through the selection in this volume.Birds is a comedy about an Athenian who decides to incite the birds to take over the world and replace the classical deities as its rulers.Both Lysistrata and Assembly-Women are about what would happen if the women took over the government.In the former, the women of Greece band together in a sex-strike, to end the Pelopennesian Wars.In the later, the Athenian women use trickery to be elected the the leaders of the democracy, and they institute economic and sexual communism.In the last selection, Wealth, the deity of Wealth, Ploutos, is captured and made to distribute wealth only to the good.However, as Poverty points out, that might not be a good thing.These plays are full of topical comedy, but much of the humor still is funny 2400 years later.The translation is very uncensored, as Greek comedy itself was, so that very little is lost in metaphor.The imagery in some of them is highly amusing.Although this is a great example of the way life was in Classic Athens, these plays are not for the squeamish!! ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Big yuks in Old Greece
Years (many years) ago when I was an English major at UMass, we were given two translations of Aristophanes "The Birds" to read in order to make a point about reading translations. One was by a translator whose nameI forgot (and gladly so). The other was by Mr. Fitts. The first was asboring as the ininitiated would expect a Greek comedy to be. But Fittsversion, far truer to the original according to our professor, was totallybizarre and remarkably funny. It is as vibrant and eye-opening as Faglestranslations of Homer.

The Ultimate Aristophanes
"Whiiiine, I don't want to read old Greek plays...they're so booooring", you say?Well, you might think that is true, especially if one your teachers bludgeoned you with the horrible British translations of Aristophanes that were done in the nineteenth century.The Victorian prudes of the nineteenth century were deeply embarrassed by the content of the Greek comedies.They felt that penis jokes were not the sort of morally uplifting things that the ancients should have talked about. All that changes with the Dudley Fitts translation.Fitts bring life back to old Aristophanes.The pace is quick and the dialogue is hysterically funny.Aristophanes was the leading wit of his time.If you can imagine a mix of P.J. O'Rourke and Jim Carrey, then you'd be close to getting at Aristophanes. The humor is sharp and often over the top, often with very earthy overtones; essentially, Greek. You really haven't read Aristophanes until you've Fitts' "Aristophanes:F! our Comedies."This is a translation to be enjoyed by all and not to dreaded as a crime to assign and punishment to read. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

best translations of Aristophanes available
Although I don't read Greek (yet--I'm working on it) I'm pretty familiar with Latin/Greek classics of all kinds in translation, and when I consider buying something new, I always check with expert classical scholars for advice & discussion--either from my alma mater, or at loxias@classicspage.com, an excellent site for those interested in the subject. The consensus is that Arrowsmith is the best with Aristophanes--he has also highly regarded transl ations of Satyricon (a fascinating and hilarious novel fragment) and several of the Tragedies originally published in the Chicago University Press series, now by Random House. So why only 4 stars? Because, frustratingly, the 3 editions of Aristophanes translated by him duplicate 2 of the plays in another!-Anyhow, others translated by Barrett & Sommerstein are worth looking at. Also "Socrates and Aristophanes" by Leo Strauss, and a book on Aristophanes' Comedy by Kenneth J Dover--and finally the article on A. in the Oxford Classical Dictionary--an indispensable reference book.

Good selections of comedies
Aristophanes is undoubtedly one of the greatest playwrights that has ever walked on the face of this Earth.The 3 comedies presented in this book are The Birds, The Clouds, and The Wasps. Among the best of the comedies isThe Clouds, which is pretty much a scathing satire on the philosophicalbeliefs of Socrates. Not only is it humorous, but also shows the flaws ofSocratic ideas. It is interesting to note the comedic devices that are usedin the stories.The satire is hilarious! ... Read more

Book Description
In addition to its many topical references to social life, religion, and politics in classical Athens, the Lysistrata is one of our best sources for the life of women in antiquity: unlike epic, tragedy, and oratory, Attic comedy draws its characters and plots from everyday life and provides a unique glimpse into the situation of everyday Athenians.Henderson's standard edition of Aristophanes' play provides much new evidence for those working on anthropological and sociological aspects of Athens, as well as those working in traditional philological fields. The text is brought fully up to date with the advances made in Aristophanic scholarship over the past sixty years. In particular, it is the first to report all the manuscripts, papyri, and testimonial sources of the text, offering a new account of its history and a detailed review of the transmission of the Aristophanic corpus as a whole. Henderson's text and apparatus criticus is supplemented by a full Introduction giving details of the background to the play, its content, staging, philological interest, the textual transmission, and by a detailed Commentary. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Entertaining Classic with a Modern Translation
In his comic play, Lysistrata, Aristophanes provides a fantasy account of the Peloponnesian War between the Spartans and Athenians.The women of Greece, disheartened by all of the bloodshed and damage caused by the war attempt to take the matter into their own hands.Led by Lysistrata, the women of Sparta and Athens band together and institute a sex-strike which will continue until the men agree to a cease-fire.Henderson is very liberal with his translation, which stands in contrast to some of the pruder translations from the Victorian era and even ones from this century.The play is filled with graphic sexual innuendos, which were repressed in other editions, but are fully presented here to retain the original comic power of the play.The vernacular used is modern and uninhibited, and is not recommended for young audiences (University level minimum).

an acient view
this books gives you the sense on how women wee treated and how they made themselves stand out and been heard using special tatics to stop the war between the athenians and the trojans.Although they say that women arethe weaker sex the men are weaker with out sex.

A complete book
I think this is the best presentation of a Greek text, because there is a good introduction, a lot of help behind in the book, but no translation. So this is the ideal Lysistrata for students. ... Read more

Book Description

Aristophanes, one of the world's greatest comic dramatists, has been admired since antiquity for his iridescent wit and beguiling fantasy, exuberant language, and brilliant satire of the social, intellectual, and political life of Athens at its height. This is the fourth and final volume in the new Loeb Classical Library edition of his plays.

Frogs was produced in 405 BCE, shortly after the deaths of Sophocles and Euripides. Dionysus, the patron god of theater, journeys to the underworld to retrieve Euripides. There he is recruited to judge a contest between the traditional Aeschylus and the modern Euripides, a contest that yields both sparkling comedy and insight on ancient literary taste. In Assemblywomen Athenian women plot to save Athens from male misgovernance. They transfer power to themselves and institute a new social order in which all inequalities based on wealth, age, and beauty are eliminated—with raucously comical results. The gentle humor and straightforward morality of Wealth made it the most popular of Aristophanes' plays from classical times to the Renaissance. Here the god Wealth is cured of his blindness; his newfound ability to distinguish good people from bad brings playfully portrayed social consequences.

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Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent translation of Aristophanes' finest works
This book, the fourth in Dr. Henderson's fine series of parallel translations, is perhaps the best of the series, containing as it does the comic masterpiece "Frogs," in my opinion the finest of Aristophanes' works. Henderson's translations are crisp, clear, and hilarious, and his extensive use of vulgarity is always textually and philologically sound (as a few comparisons of Liddell-Scott and the OED will surely reveal). In short, it is the definitive edition of Aristophanes' works, and the only translation accurate enough to be worth having on your bookshelf (and believe me, I've read quite a few). ... Read more

Book Description
Work from one of the great Ancient Greek Dramatists, circa448 BC - 385 BC, many of whose plays satirized well-known citizens of Athens and their conduct in the Peloponnesian War and after.Download Description
Sparklesoup brings you Aristophane's classic drama.This version is printable so you can mark up your script and easy-to-download with links to interesting facts and sites. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great comedy has no expiration date......
I re-read this play recently after being asked to submit a few choices to direct at a local theater, and fell in love with the humor of Aristophanes all over again.

His comedies are virtually unparalelled in the surviving classical works. The humor of the plays, particularly the Frogs, is just as fresh and vibrant today as it was thousands of years ago.

Dionysus, Greek God of theater, has grown despondant that upon the death of Euripides there are no great poets left on Earth. He resolves to travel to Hades and beg Pluto to allow him to resurrect Euripedes so that he might continue his work.

Dionysus, accompanied by his faithful porter Xanthias, travels first to the house of Heracles, dressed as the Greek hero, to ask his advice...as well as directions. Heracles suggests conventional methods (death by ones own hands) before he reveals the path he himself followed.

The two then set out to rescue Euripides. Xanthias, being a slave, is given a foot route to follow, while Dionysus enjoys a boat ride courtesy of Charon, the ferryman of the dead. Upon arrival at Pluto's house, and after a case of mistaken/disguised identity ends up in a draw, Dionysus finally meets up with Euripides.

However, Aeschylus isn't about to give up without a fight...Pluto has arranged for a contest between the two famed poets to determine the better of them...as Aeschylus decries Euripides as merely a 'flavor of the month' among the people of Hades. A dialogue ensues between he and Euripides, with Dionysus left to judge the merits of each.

Full of delightful comic insight into the works of both poets, The Frogs is a completely accessible foray into classical theater that you don't need to be a scholar to understand. While a basis of Euripides and Aeschylus helps to augment enjoyment of the work, it stands apart on its own.

An enchanting, intriguing, and entertaining read.

A wonderful edition, and a wonderful play.
As a struggling (college) student of Classical Greek, I found K.J. Dover's edition of Frogs to have a wonderful amount of translation help and historical notes, without being overwhelming (or overly expensive).Since the second half of the play is a gentle parody of Aeschylus and Euripides, it helps to have read those authors (preferrably in the original) to get some of the jokes -- if you're new to Greek Comedy, take a look at K.J. Dover's edition of Clouds, which I haven't yet tackled, but intend to.(That one parodies Plato and Socrates...)

N.B. -- this edition doesn't include a translation, which is how I prefer it, but some may not.

Aristophanes's farcical attempt at dramatic criticism
On the one hand Aristophanes's comedy "The Frogs" is a farce, but it is of more interest because it presents the earliest known example of dramatic criticism.Presented in 405 B.C., the play tells of how Dionysus, the god of drama, had to go to Hades to fetch back Euripides, who died the previous year, because Athens no longer had any great tragic poets left.The first part of the comedy involves Dionysus, who has disguised himself as Heracles, and his slave Xanthias on their way to Hades and features several interesting songs by the chorus of blessed mystics and the chorus of frogs.However, the high point of the comedy is the contest between Euripides and Aeschylus.

Each of the two great tragic poets denounces the other and quotes lines from their own works to prove their superiority.We discover that Euripides writes about vulgar themes, corrupts manners, debases music and has prosaic diction.In contrast, Aeschylus finds obscure titles and is guilty of turgid prose.In the end Dionysus finds that artistic standards of judgment are useless and turns to a political solution.This makes sense since the problem facing Athens is a political one: what to do about the tyrant Alcibiades.What is most interesting is the implicit belief that the tragic poets had a social responsibility towards the audiences of their dramas.

"Frogs," in addition to being one of the better comedies by Aristophanes, is also of interest because it contains the only fragments from several tragedies by Euripides and Aeschylus that have been long lost to us. As always, I urge that if you are studying Greek plays, whether the comedies of Aristophanes or the tragedies by those other more serious fellows, it is important to understand the particular structure of these plays and the various dramatic conventions of the Greek theater. This involves not only the distinction between episodes and stasimons (scenes and songs), but elements like the "agon" (a formal debate on the crucial issue of the play), and the "parabasis" (in which the Chorus partially abandons its dramatic role and addresses the audience directly).

One of his best
In "Frogs" (Batrakhoi), the god Dionysus, complaining that the art of poetry has declined, goes down to Hades to bring the playwrightAeschylus back from the dead. Once he gets there, however, Euripides (oneof Aristophanes' favorite targets) claims that he is better than Aeschylus,and a contest of wits ensues. This my favorite of Aristophanes' plays andhas a tidier ending than most of them. Watch out, though-this book (ed.Kenneth Dover) is the original Greek text. If you don't know Greek, buy thePenguin translation.

Entertaining
My friend and I were doing a project for school on the internet and we stumbled across the whole text of this play (we were reasearching ancient Greece).We decided to bookmark it, and then during lunches we readthrough it until we finished it.It's very amusisng, I highly recommendit!I love the songs! ... Read more